Personal introduction and background information

[John O'Shea]

Just wanted to take a second to introduce myself in hopes that it may emotionally resonate with someone out there. 

First of all, I'm JT O'Shea, and I come from a background that seemingly deviates from society's perception of the image of real estate investors. It seems to me that most people think only rich people get involved in real estate. I can tell you first hand, I did not grow up with a silver spoon. Up until my junior year in high school, with a couple of exceptions, I would consider my childhood "normal." My parents were still married, we lived in a suburban average neighborhood, and I don't have recollection of experiencing any significant family related struggle at this age. Fast forward to my junior year in high school - my parents had divorced, my sister had gotten pregnant and dropped out of school, and my father moved away to battle addiction. While trying to acclimate to my new life I made plenty of mistakes in the face of adversity. I found myself trying to figure out life on my own as a 16 year old with seemingly no guidance. Instead of realizing the position I was in and strapping up my boots, I acted immaturely and found myself in and out of trouble for the next full year, until I had an epiphany and realized this was my life to live and if I didn't take a stand and create a future for myself I would only amount to being a product of my circumstances and environment. I enrolled in college unsure about my future, under the influence that the corporate route was the only path available. Then I found my saving grace. Books. At this time I wanted to move to a neighboring county to a new community college with a guaranteed-admittance program to their partner university. Innately, I realized that instead of renting an apartment with my friends it would be far more advantageous to execute what BiggerPockets coins the term "house hacking." Of course, financially I was not in the position to facilitate this home purchase, so I did the next best thing and began devouring books and reading any information on real estate I could get my hands on. While researching what real estate related books to read, obviously I came across the infamous Rich Dad Poor Dad. I think you can see where this is going. I finished the book within hours of starting it and dropped out of school the next day. Following, I got a job paying nominal wage that I could have the freedom to listen to podcasts as I worked. This constant search and consumption of knowledge brought me to the drawing board day by day to plan out my road map for my future. To make a long story short, I concluded my preferred strategy was to buy and hold long term and pursue the development of a rental empire. So how could I achieve this goal? This is when I started to work backwards and create actionable steps to progress toward my path to achievement. The first chess move I decided to make was reaching out to the only person I knew who had any real estate knowledge whatsoever. He turned out to be a local appraiser, and seemed to me to be almost overwhelmingly informed in every aspect of real estate I could imagine at the time. I offered to work for him for free for two weeks as his assistant in exchange for answers to any real estate question I could drum up. He accepted, and he actually ended up hiring me, and we still work together to this day. Once I felt I had enough knowledge and that I was trapped in an analysis paralysis, I decided to leverage my skill set and financial position and begin to wholesale. This brings us up to the present. Boy has it been a journey so far, but I can honestly say I love everything it entails. I made my first deal a month after my first marketing batch when out; an assignment from 50-65k. Talk about a fire under me now. I immediately reinvested a significant amount of profits back into marketing, and I am reaping the benefits as I am typing this. I have 6 more leads in the funnel now, and should be closing on two properties this month to start the new year right - barring any unexpected situations. 

Anyway - somewhat long winded, but I felt it was important to share a brief glimpse into what will serve as the beginning to my real estate journey. Don't ever let your circumstances define your future. 

-JT